1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of kayaks. Particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method of retrievably stowing items on a kayak.
2. Description of Prior Art
A kayak is a pleasure craft that can be used on any body of water from quiet lakes to whitewater rivers to the open ocean. To use a kayak, the kayak operator sits in the vessel's cockpit, extends the legs underneath the foredeck of the vessel toward the bow, and optionally wraps a device known as a spray skirt around the waist. The spray skirt is then attached to the outer edges of the kayak, sealing the interior of the kayak from the environment. The operator then propels the kayak through the water using a two-headed paddle.
When a kayak is afloat in water, items stowed inside the kayak are not easily accessible to the kayak operator, whether or not the items are contained in storage bags or pouches. Thus, if the kayak operator needs or desires any item stowed inside the vessel (such as a drink, a snack, fishing bait, sunscreen, etc.), he or she must either reach under the kayak's decking system or turn and reach in back of him or her to a stern storage compartment, if so equipped. This is not only inconvenient for the operator, but it also puts the vessel at risk of rolling, which risks the safety of the vessel and of the kayak operator.
Portable coolers have been commercially available and used for some time. There have even been developed specially designed portable storage coolers for use with boats and the like. These storage coolers are adapted for use in canoes and wide-hulled open pleasure craft such as rowboats, motorboats, and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,488 (1981, Mathieu) discloses a removable canoe cooler. This device is designed to wedge itself securely in place inside a canoe and can be removed from the vessel at will. The cooler rests inside the canoe. While well suited for use with canoes, this device could not be used inside of a kayak because most kayaks do not have an open hull. Most kayaks have a cockpit for the kayaker with little room for anything else.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,639 (1990, Scherer) discloses a removable cooler for use in a wide-hulled, open boat such as a motorboat or rowboat. The device is designed to sit on the bottom of the boat and provide an extra weight-bearing step as well as a cooler assembly. This device is well adapted to the vessel for which it is designed. Because a kayak has a confined opening in which the operator sits, there is little or no space to use such a device with a kayak, nor is there any reason to need such a dual-purpose device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,169 (1996, Denker) discloses a multi-purpose bracket which clamps across both gunwales of a canoe. The multi-purpose bracket allows the canoe operator to mount various accessories thereupon such as catamaran coupling bars, portaging wheels and other such equipment that must be securely but temporarily affixed to the canoe. Such a device used on a kayak to secure stored items would necessarily be placed inside the hull across the kayak gunwales where the kayak operator is sitting. Because of the limited space in the cockpit of the kayak, the use of such a device with a kayak would not be practical.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,966 (2000, Cuminsky) discloses a utility station used with an adjustable mount in a pleasure craft. This device is well suited for use in an open-hulled boat, but would be impossible to mount in a closed-hull boat such as a kayak.
There are devices, however, that have been designed specifically for use with kayaks. U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,213 (1999, Stevens) discloses a device used to support a standard-sized beverage container on top of a kayak and within the reach of a kayak operator. This device is used to hold a single beverage container for a beverage being consumed by the kayak operator. However, it does not provide a means for storing additional beverage containers, or for keeping the beverage at a desired temperature during the kayak trip before it is consumed. Nor does it provide space to store a lunch, a bottle of sunscreen or any other item that a person might need or desire while kayaking.
Other types of storage devices designed specifically for kayaks exist in the marketplace. These devices stow items inside a nylon or other tough, flexible fabric container such as canvas, mesh or other similar material much like that used for a knapsack. They may or may not have a plurality of zippered pockets or pouches. They are attached to a kayak atop the kayak's foredeck within easy reach of the kayak operator. However, unlike the present invention, they are not rigid containers, nor are they insulated to provide a kayak cooler system, nor do they provide a beverage container holder built therein.
Further, these prior art devices are secured to the foredeck using either a loop system through which decklines must run to secure the device, or detachable hooks and stretchable cord attached to the device, or latching hooks that attach the device to the kayak's decklines.
Running decklines through the loops of these device requires the kayak operator to unlash the decklines and lace them through the loops, then re-lash the lines. Alternatively, the kayak operator could separately purchase latching hooks to attach the device to the decklines.
Therefore, what is needed is a device that is capable of safely stowing items on top of a kayak within a kayak operator's easy reach. What is also needed is a device that can be easily mounted to, and removed from, a kayak's decking system. What is further needed is a device that can insulate items from the outside elements and keep them at a desired temperature. What is still further needed is a device that does not interfere with kayak operator's safe use of the vessel.